Jennifer Caloyeras's Blog, page 17

Strays spotted in a hot tub in Mexico

Well this was a funny discovery! This photo recently cropped up on the #westinvallarta Instagram feed.

The woman in the hot tub happens to be reading a copy of Strays. How do I know this when you can barely see the words on the page? Because the vacationer happens to also be a friend of mine who was reading my book in the hot tub on vacation. Just funny to see it on the Westin's page!

So grab your copy and find the nearest hot tub! Everyone's doing it!

(My friend in the photo also happes to have the most mouth watering Instagram feed at salt_and_sage.) 

November is the Month I'm Getting it Done

If I seem like I've disappeared off the face of the earth it's only because I've fallen into the hole that is NanoWriMo. 

What did I just say?

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which happens to be November. The folks over at NanoWriMo have set up a wonderful universe of novel writing: prompts to get you going, motivational speakers, word count checkers and message boards message boards message boards. 

I tend to avoid all that and really just focus on writing my seven pages a day. 

This is my third year participating. Two years ago, I wrote a dystopic young adult novel that I am currently revising. Last year I cheated and wrote a screenplay (the rules are it should be a 60,000 word original novel.) And this year, I'm attempting my first contemporary adult novel. 

On day two I scrapped my planned structure which changes so much, but that's what happens when the writing is compressed to thirty days. (I realized the first fourteen pages were just back story.)

So as I was hammering away at the keys I read a tweet from my writer friend, Lael, who mentioned something about PiBoIdMo. What? Another catchy word, not word? What did it mean? Turns out it stands for Picture Book Idea Month and the challenge here is to come up with a picture book idea for every day of the month in November. I revised those rules to include a young adult concept as well. 

So that is what I will be doing for the month of November, feverishly writing a novel and coming up with other book concepts. 

Want to join me?

To sign up and read about NaNoWriMo, click here. 

To sign up and read about PiBoIdMo, click here. 

Lit Lovers

Happy November! This fall is flying by! I just returned home from seeing Brian Selznick speak. The man is a rock star! (my kids loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret and they are excited to read his latest novel, The Marvels.) It was so interesting to see his process (you have to be so organized when you're dealing with over 600 pages of text and art.

In other news, LIt Lovers recently put out a nice reading guide for my novel, Strays. Have a look! LIt Lovers is a great resource for people in book clubs as well as us readers that like to fly solo. 

Viva Las Vegas!

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas where I participated in the Vegas Valley Book Festival. I was thrilled to be speaking on a panel titled, "Giving Teens A Voice". My fellow panelists included Conrad Wesselhoeft, Lindsay Lane, Katie Van Ark and e.E. Charlton-Trijillo. They are all doing amazing work and I encourage to to check them out!

I saw Claire Vaye Watkins speak on Saturday, which was fun because I just finished Gold Fame Citrus. Want to know what else I'm reading? Come find me on Goodreads! And right now, Goodreads is giving away ten copies of my young adult novel, Strays. Click here to enter. 

A few days earlier I had the pleasure of speaking with creative writing students at thee University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). They asked the most engaging questions.

Once I returned to the hotel I realized I had left my laptop in the classroom! (said laptop currently holds the only copy of two new novels and two revised screenplays) so back to UNLV I went. Imagine my delight when an hour and a half later my laptop was still where I left it. I might not have won anything playing the slots, but my reunion with my laptop totally restored my faith in humanity. 

Here's a beautiful display at the Wynn Hotel:

Next up: I'll be speaking Wednesday, October 21st, 8:00 pm - 9:30pm Theater Banshee Book'd in Burbank -  www.bookdevent.com

Literary Classics International Book Awards Finalist!

I'm thrilled to be able to share with you today that my young adult novel, Strays, is a finalist in the Literary Classics International Book Awards. 

The awards will be presented in Los Angeles in February at the AWP conference. 

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

To see a complete list of finalists, click here. 

It's Banned Books Week!

Banned Books Week is here to make sure that books that are challenged don't become censored.

Banned Books Week was established in 1982 by librarian Judith Krug and is supported by the ALA (American Library Association) which believes that readers and writers have "the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them."

Cheers to that! 

In celebration of Banned Books Week I'm sharing some of my favorite "challenged" books in various genres. 

Nonfiction: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:

Fiction: I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou:

Young Adult Fiction: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky:

Want o know more? Join reddit's Banned Books Week Ask Me Anything on Thursday, October 1st from 7-9 CT. Click here for more information on how to get involved. 

I showed you mine, now what are some of your favorite banned books?

author interview in The Children's Book Review

I was recently interviewed in The Children's Book Review. Find out how long it took me to write my latest novel! (hint: it was a really long time!!)

Click here to read the full interview.

Goodreads Giveaway

Between now and October 26th, Goodreads is giving away ten copies of my young adult novel, Strays. 

Click here to enter! It's easy! It's free! 

Wrongful Arrest

In my young adult novel, Strays, the main character, Iris, gets arrested for threatening her teacher, both physically and on paper. A question I've gotten from people has been, "Could that really happen?" "Are schools that strict about threats?" 

Well, this week, I think the case against the 9th grader who was arrested for building a clock (no easy engineering feat!) answers that question. Like Iris, Ahmed, the maker of the clock (the school thought it was a bomb) was placed in handcuffs and taken to a juvenile detention center.

Ahmed's school eventually issued him an apology and invited him back, but he said no thanks. And I don't blame him. 

So what do you think? Are schools too quick to assume the worst from their students? 

This photo first appeared courtesy of the Dallas Morning News.

interactive American literary road map

I am loving atlas obscura's detailed map of American literature's most epic road trips! 

It includes "every place-name reference in 12 books about cross-country travel..." Some of the twelve books are F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Cruise of the Rolling Junk, Cheryl Strayed's Wild and Jack Kerouac's on the road. 

I am ready to rent an RV and start trekking. Now someone just needs to make me a playlist for each of these routes.